2024 Big Ten Tournament First-Round Recap
The first night of the Big Ten Tournament got off to a hot start with a big-time matchup between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Michigan Wolverines who are usually powerhouses. On top of that Rutgers matched up with Maryland earlier in the night. All four teams came into the tournament with lots of questions surrounding their season so far as the four of them are below .500. Michigan is currently suffering through their worst season of recent memory currently at 8-24 after tonight's defeat. Could this be the last we see of Juwan Howard with the Wolverines?
Maryland (#12) vs. Rutgers (#13)
The Rutgers vs Maryland game was definitely less covered tonight even though both teams are debatably better than Michigan and Penn State. The game got off to a quick start with Maryland going up by 10 quickly. Maryland took a halftime lead of 36-22 after a well-spread-out effort by all their starters. This lead proved to be too much to come back from for Rutgers as even though both teams scored 29 in the second half, they were unable to cut the lead. Rutgers as well struggled immensely from the field tonight shooting only 31% from the field. The struggles from Rutgers combined with a strong performance by Maryland's Jahmir Young. Who scored 11 points eight rebounds and seven assists are the reason why Maryland is moving on with a 65-51 win.
Penn State (#11) vs. Michigan (#14)
The later game tonight Michigan vs Penn State displayed the elite skills of superstar Ace Baldwin and sharpshooter Zach Hicks. Baldwin put on a show in the team’s win scoring at will on a very effective night overall. While Zach Hicks shot the lights out adding to an already impressive shooting campaign with 20 points and six three-pointers. Michigan has seemed lost all season and tonight was just another one of those nights. They fell to an early deficit and even with efforts to come back to start the second half Penn State was once again easily able to pull away. Lots of change is soon to come for Michigan as they are far past the days of being a yearly top seed in March Madness. Penn State will look to build off this 66-57 win as they have much tougher tests upcoming.
